This invention relates to a method and an associated structure involving a prefabricated coating mat material from which pieces, called trims and tiles herein, may be cut to shape, and applied by adhesive bonding to the outside surface of the wall in a liquid container holding a defined-liquid, for the purpose of providing rapid self-healing of a container-wall puncture wound, such as a bullet wound. For the purpose of exposition herein, a preferred embodiment of, and manner of practicing, the present invention are described in a military setting, wherein what is to be protected against leakage, by use of the present coating, is some form of petrol-chemical fuel container, such as a field storage container, a vehicle tanker container, a vehicle fuel tank, etc. In this setting the present invention in all of its aspects has been found to offer particular utility.
Puncture wounds of the walls of defined-liquid-holding containers present serious issues which need to be addressed, particularly where the liquid that is stored, referred to herein as a defined-liquid, is flammable and dangerous, and with respect to which an uncontrolled and massive leakage escape of this fluid can take place. In a military setting, protection of petrol-chemical fuel containers is important in a combat zone where an enemy may wish to disrupt military activities by puncturing and igniting dangerous liquid, such as petrol-chemical fuel.
In this setting, and in fact in relation to any other relevant setting, the present invention proposes a unique, pre-fabricated, plural-layer, mat-like coating material which can be delivered to a use site for the cutting out therefrom of what are referred to herein as trims or tiles of material that are then applied, typically in an edge-to-edge abutting manner, to the outside surface of the wall in a container which is to be protected. Application of such tiles is performed preferably utilizing an adhesive bonding agency. Preparation of such a coating herein takes the form of preparing, in a pre-fabrication mode, what is referred to as a bulk, layered mat of material—and particularly, a material which is generally pliable and elastomeric in nature, and functionally reactive (as will later be explained herein) to the specific defined-liquid which is held in a subject, protected container. Bulk preparation of large quantities of useable coating material, as contemplated by practice of the present invention, promotes an easy task of creating “non-specifically-shaped”, yet-undedicated protective coating material which is easily employed at a use site by there cutting out, or trimming, appropriate container-wall conforming shapes of tiles for use in that particular container setting. Bulk coating material prepared in accordance with practice of the present invention may typically and preferably be organized as a deliverable dispense roll of pre-formed mat material from which the mentioned tiles and/or trims may be cut, and then edge-to-edge abutted and bonded to a particular surface which is to be protected.
These and other features and advantages which are offered by the present invention will now become more fully apparent as the description which follows below is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.